1. Monitoring the vulnerability and adaptation of coastal fisheries to climate change project Funded through the Australian “International Climate Change Adaptation Initiative (ICCAI)”

2. Outline Objective of the project Workshop on monitoring protocols
Site selection for pilot projects
Monitoring approaches
Proposed additional sites and collaborations
Current status of the project
Work plan for next 12 months

3. Project objective
Assist PICTs to design and field-test monitoring protocols to determine whether changes are occurring to the productivity of coastal fisheries, and if changes are found, to identify what is attributed to the effects of climate change as opposed to other causes (e.g. overfishing, pollution, habitat degradation etc)

4. Workshop on monitoring approaches
Workshop held in Noumea 19–22 April 2010 with 20 experts from around the region
Objective 1: identify data currently collected in the Pacific, their purpose and whether they will allow separation of climate change effects
Objective 2: Identify optimum monitoring design, including practical indicators, survey designs and methods.
Outcomes used to develop monitoring protocols to be trialed at pilot sites

5. Site selection
Assessment made of what data was available from the different research projects in region
Focus was mainly on atolls; most vulnerable to climate change effects
Need for a geographical spread of pilot sites
Sites need to be accessible for regular monitoring
Agreement reached between SPC and government to establish the pilot site and commitment to future monitoring

6. Selected sites

7. Monitoring approach
Most large-scale oceanographic data already being collected.
Purchase satellite imagery for each site for mapping and ground-truthing habitat

8. Monitoring approach
Monitor local water temperature at pilot sites with a logger

9. Monitoring approach
Conduct baseline resource surveys including habitat, plus build local capacity to undertake future monitoring

10. Monitoring approach
Conduct specific photo quadrat surveys for coral cover and type

11. Proposed additional sites: FPF loggers only

12. Overall coverage (SPC and GOPS)

13. Current status of project
Sites selected, 1 established and loggers deployed
Finalising agreements for other 4 pilot sites
Equipment purchased for the 5 pilot sites
Database established for resource data
Ms Maria Sapatu joined the project in Feb 2011
Recruitment underway for 2 Pacific Islander attachment positions, 1 covering information management and 1 reef fisheries scientist

14. Work plan for next 12 months
Finalise recruitment for 2 positions
Trial photo quadrat process and establish database for photo storage and coral identification
Baseline surveys and local capacity building scheduled for Majuro in March/April, and other locations later in the year
Additional sites will be established with loggers if the FPF proposal is successful
If additional funding is located, will undertake baseline surveys in some of the additional sites

15. THANK YOU QUESTIONS?